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What does it truly mean to experience fulfillment? How do you know if you're fulfilled or just getting by? If asked to rate your fulfillment on a scale from 1 to 10, where would you land? The challenge with self-assessment is that there's no universal standard—your 3 might feel like my 10. But what exactly makes something a 10 for you? Is it when your daughter tells you she loves you or when your dog greets you with enthusiasm?
If you don't know what truly and deeply resonates with you, how can you make choices that enhance your sense of well-being?
At Immersion, we've solved this puzzle, tracing our insights back to the origins of psychology.
William James, the pioneer of modern psychology and Harvard professor, aimed to map physiological responses to observable behaviors. He challenged the idea that introspection alone could reveal motivations for behavior. Instead, James, a trained physician, sought to understand the brain activity driving behaviors. In his 1884 article, "What Is an Emotion?," James distinguished between feelings (what we consciously report) and emotions (physiological responses that drive behavior). Perhaps surprisingly, these two things are often in conflict.
I shared a personal example of this conflict in my 2022 book, Immersion: The Science of the Extraordinary and the Source of Happiness – a revealing story that sets the stage for SIX.
Picture this: I'm driving to film a segment for the BBC Show Animal Friends, where my mission is to measure oxytocin levels in different animal species to determine if their "friendship" behaviors show physiologic evidence of bonding. Halfway through the drive to the shoot location, I start to feel my heart race and realize I’m breathing heavily. I assume it’s just excitement for the shoot—until I realize the true cause. Dry ice I stored in my trunk to ship blood samples from the shoot back to my lab is venting carbon dioxide into the car, and I’m being starved of oxygen. I pull over, catch my breath, and finish the drive with the windows down.
This moment illustrates a profound truth: our conscious mind often misreads what's really happening inside our bodies. I consciously rationalized my racing heart and accelerated breathing as due to excitement, when my body was actually fighting for oxygen. Interestingly, Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett shares a similar experience on the Hidden Brain podcast, where she misinterprets signs of the flu as attraction to a graduate school colleague.
This disconnect between conscious perception and reality is why traditional surveys and self-reports often miss the mark. They only capture what we think we feel, not the deeper neurochemical story unfolding beneath the surface.
At Immersion Neuroscience, we've harnessed this insight and transformed it into powerful technology. Our algorithms go beyond guesswork and surface-level perceptions to measure the subtle signals your body sends when oxytocin and dopamine flood your system. These are the critical moments that shape your memories, influence your decisions, and ultimately define your sense of fulfillment.
This is how we can predict hit songs before they top the charts, forecast movie success from just a trailer, and pinpoint which parts of a training session will stick with you weeks later. After discovering the brain's social-emotional valuation network, which we named Immersion, we founded Immersion Neuroscience and developed the first neuroscience-as-a-service (NaaS) platform. This tool empowers organizations to enhance marketing, transform consumer experiences, and improve training.
My entire career has been dedicated to advancing knowledge and technologies to help people live longer, more fulfilling lives. Naturally, this inspired me to explore the connection between Immersion and fulfillment. Our initial research showed that by continuously tracking Immersion data, we could predict people’s mood and energy levels with 98% accuracy. Peak Immersion experiences correlate strongly with emotional well-being. But the real question became, how can one use this information to enhance their sense of radical fulfillment?
To answer this, I returned to the lab to determine how many peak Immersion experiences are needed to build emotional fitness. Our findings, published in a peer-reviewed paper, revealed the answer: six. Experiencing four peak Immersion moments a day, each lasting three minutes or longer, improves one’s outlook. Those who have six or more peak Immersion experiences enhance their ability to be present and emotionally open—key components of a fulfilled life.
That’s why we developed SIX, the world's first app rooted in neuroscience that accurately measures your Key Moments–in other words, peak Immersion experiences when you are truly thriving. SIX integrates with your calendar to track which activities boost or diminish your daily emotional fitness. To flourish, you must make informed choices about how you spend your time. SIX reveals what truly adds value to your life, helping you curate your day for greater fulfillment.
Research from Oxford University shows that half of our happiness and fulfillment is linked to the quality of our social relationships. SIX quantifies and ranks these interactions, highlighting which friends, family, and activities enhance your emotional fitness and which detract from it.
SIX also tackles the social regulation of emotions. Spending time with happy and optimistic individuals typically improves your mood, while negative interactions can have the opposite effect. SIX encourages users to build a supportive group of six friends, that we call your “Inner Circle.” If a friend is struggling, SIX suggests sending a message of support to help them regain a positive state. While your SIX data remains private, you can share their progress with those close to you. Supporting others through SIX can often generate Key Moments for both the supporter and the supported, reinforcing the connection and care that build emotional fitness.
No journaling or extra tasks required. SIX runs continuously, acting as your personal guide to emotional fitness. It has never been easier to shape the life you want and optimize each day.
SIX is the free app you need to live a healthier, longer, and more radically fulfilled life.
Download it today from the App or Play Store. Six Key Moments, endless possibilities.